Kung Fu Panda 3

[Drunk Monk]

What's more fun than a Kung fu panda? A whole village of Kung fu pandas. That's going to be the opening line to my official review which is embargoed until kfp3 premieres in 2 weeks. 

3 is fun like 2, with grander 3D and even more colorful environments, particularly the psychedelic spirit world where dead Kung fu masters live like Jedi force ghosts. The banter is funny. Jack Black is on point as Po as usual. It's very family. Black's son and a few Jolie-Pitt kids even have small roles. It's painfully predictable from scene one but who cares? The fights are fun. The panda village is a little overdone (Puss big eyes for the pandas? Been there).  The ending is drawn out and could have used more laughs like the beginning, but the animation is beautiful throughout. The entire cast returns, even JCVD.

This is poised to do very well in China. It has a completely different cast of A list Chinese voice actors there.

[Drunk Monk]

I went again with Tara. We saw it in 2D because there wasn't a 3D version available in our area anymore. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time around, mostly because my view wasn't tainted by the film's predictability. The first time I saw it, I succinctly predicted the story arc rather early on, which is always disappointing on first viewing. But the second time, I knew full well how the story was going to go, so I could just enjoy the visuals and the comedy. It was much better in 3D however. It's really meant to be seen in 3D. Plus seeing it with Tara was a treat because we seldom go out to movies together anymore.  She has her High School friends, which makes it tricky to find a good excuse to watch animated films.  

Her childhood went by so fast....

[King Bob]

Saw this on pay per view the other night. Not nearly as good as the first two, but certainly it did look great.

Afterward I thought about it, and I do find it a little disturbing that one thing repeated in all three movies is that you while one can find mastery through practice, like Tiger, Po finds superior mastery simply by being himself and seemingly with minimal effort. That's a shitty message.

[Drunk Monk]

[Greg]

Good to see Ian McShane getting some work.

[King Bob]

They just can't stop.

[Drunk Monk]

Why should they? 

Well, there was that awful series...
http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=7120

[Drunk Monk]

This feels desperate...

[Greg]

Cash grab?